Lately With Lila April 2022 | Supermassive Black Hole (Of Movies & Shows & ~Emotions~)

Hello, dear friends! How’s everything going with you? I hope everything is well, and if not, I hope brighter days head your way soon!

Well, friends, this past April was quite a month and it felt altogether too fast and too slow all at the same time! What a weird time warp we’re living in… But enough about The Utter Strangeness of Time, friends—I’ve got updates for you! Turns out this past month was the month I (FINALLY!) started to chow down on some good ol’ entertainment media again! Let’s take a look back!

quick updates!

• To avoid any confusion, we’ve changed the name of our book club from Diversity’s Lit to Pages in Colour

what i posted

• Lately With Lila | March 2022
• #OwnVoices Middle Eastern Books To Check Out For Arab American Heritage Month
• Introducing Our Book Club, Diversity’s Lit Pages in Colour!

what i’m reading

🔎 The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake I mentioned last month that I loved this book so far and planned on savoring it slowly and I can confirm that that is, indeed, still the case! I cannot stress enough how much I’m enjoying this read and, honestly, unless the ending is a massive flop, I think this will DEFINITELY be a new favorite!

🧞 The River of Silver by S.A. Chakraborty This is another audiobook that I’m enjoying savoring. The Daevabad Trilogy is one of my all-time favorite series, so I totally love being back in the same world!

👑 The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri This is our quarterly book club pick for Pages in Colour, so I’m very excited to dive into it with everyone!

what i watched

the witcher (season 2)

🐺 I’m only three episodes into this season, but already I’m pretty reinvested! Tbh, at the moment I’m mostly here for Yennifer’s storyline, though. If I’m being completely honest, Ciri and Geralt’s training montages aren’t my favorite. That being said, I know they’re leading up to something bigger, and I can’t wait to see what that is!

moonshot

🌛 Honestly, while I found Moonshot mildly cute, overall, I felt like it was also pretty underwhelming. From what I’ve seen I seem to be in the minority here, but I just didn’t think Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse had any chemistry and that really brought the film down for me.

shadow and bone (season 1)

✨ With the exception of one quibble, I absolutely LOVED this adaptation! It was very true to the source text and I feel like everything that was changed or added was very on brand for the original characters. My single issue was how Alina’s race was handled, but aside from that, this adaptation was total perfection!

howl’s moving castle

🏰 I was feeling kinda blue and wanted to watch something cute to cheer me up, and thus I found myself watching Howl’s Moving Castle for the first time. I found it absolutely enchanting, and it did indeed work to lift my mood! Now I have a new film to add to my favorites list!

heartstopper (season 1)

🌈 I’ve only watched the first two episodes of this show, but so far, I think it’s very cute and a great adaptation! That being said, I think that for now I’m going to set the show aside for later, seeing as I’m really not in the mood for a cutesy YA contemporary romance and I don’t want my mood to affect my feelings about the show. But I look forward to eventually watching the rest of the season!

what i listened to

april 2022 playlist

high notes

• “As It Was” by Harry Styles Okay but, like, who among us isn’t obsessed with this song???
• “my strange addiction” by Billie Eilish I’m quickly becoming a fan of Billie’s!
• “Problems” by DeathbyRomy To quote Logic, “Who can relate? Whoo!”
• “Turning Page” by Sydney Rose I wasn’t a massive fan of the original song, but this cover is perfection!

kalila stormfire’s economical magick services

I’ve mentioned in a previous wrap up that I love this audiodrama podcast, so it’s probably no surprise that I’m still enjoying it after having randomly taken a long break from listening. I love that this podcast is a calmer, slower audiodrama that’s more like a slice-of-life, cozy fantasy than an action/adventure fantasy. It’s been just what I’ve needed lately!

what i bookmarked

• Amanda examined why literature is so important and the universality of literary themes
• Ashley talked about bookish things that make her cringe
• Kat recounted books that were popular when she was in high school and what she read instead
• Phoenix gave a thoughtful review of Loveless by Alice Oseman
• Write Through The Night featured a lovely review of Bridgerton Season 2 which included a wonderful #ownvoices discussion of the representation in the season
• Stephanie recommended 10 #ownvoices books with neurodiversity representation
• Caro spotlighted books with autistic characters
• Rania discussed the do’s and don’ts of Desi representation
• Lauren shared her thoughts while watching Netflix’s Heartstopper adaptation for the second time
• Bertie highlighted 7 sci fi and fantasy books with autistic characters for Autism Acceptance Month
• Emma attempted to solve Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (Video)

hidden gems of the internet

• Slate turned to a “goblin historian” to ask, “How Defamatory Is ‘Goblin Mode’ to Real Goblins?“
• Ali Olomi is a historian of The Middle East and Islam who regularly posts Twitter threads on Middle Eastern and Islamic folklore, mythology, and history. Definitely take a read!

what i did in april 2022

In all honesty, April was a pretty up and down month. What can I say, there were highs and there were lows. I got together with friends a couple of times, though, and that was really nice and very much long overdue and necessary. My best friend also gave me a much needed hair cut and styling—don’t you worry, though, because she does have a cosmetology degree, haha! Also, for the most part, the weather was really beautiful, and that made me happy! Ooooh! I almost forgot—I also purchased and received my copy of Cain’s Jawbone, the murder mystery puzzle book that’s been taking TikTok by storm (and I wholeheartedly blame Jack Edwards for this ridiculously fun impulse buy)! I plan on gathering together a group of friends to try and work it out! Other than that, though, there wasn’t much going on.

what i plan on doing in may 2022

Aside from working on Cain’s Jawbone, I have a couple of fun plans for this May. I’m actually supposed to go see Everything Everywhere All At Once with several friends from my old philosophy class, so I’m really looking forward to that! I also may go to a Smithsonian lecture on Hans Christin Andersen and his fairy tale collections. I’d also love to start this self taught dance class sequence that’s available for free via YouTube, but I’m a little nervous, as I haven’t danced in a while and I’m really perfectionistic and self critical when it comes to my own efforts with new endeavors. Still, I’m trying to remind myself that nobody starts perfect and that if I let go, I can have some fun. Besides those activities, everything is up in the air and I’ll just have to take life as it comes!

spill the beans, friends!

• How was your April?
• Did you do anything fun and/or read any good books?
• What are you looking forward to this May?